Patients having undergone open-heart surgery are frequently prone to the accumulation of fluid in the lungs, and require a post-operative regimen of induced coughing so as to expectorate this fluid. Hospitals typically provide the patient with a protective pad or pillow to be held against the chest during this process, to minimize discomfort and to protect the sternum from post-operative separation. U.S. Pat. No. 4,829,613 teaches such a pad for post-operative recovery, this particular invention including a diagram of physical features in the area of the human heart on its outer surface.
However, to minimize the discomfort to the sternum, it is preferable that the device being used by the patient have substantially more mass than a simple pillow, regardless of its overall shape. In prior-art designs, the patient is relied upon to hold the pillow against the chest area, and since most such patients are weakened from the surgery itself, any assistance in applying this pressure would be greatly appreciated by such patients.